Bush and his Republican Congress have failed this nation miserably.
In the wake of the president's Thursday evening speech from New
Orleans, it will be interesting to see how the GOP resolves its
differences over how (and with how many dollars) the federal
government should respond.
Their first inclination was to continue draining our national treasury
to help their friends at Halliburton and Exxon/Mobil.
Meanwhile, they have jeopardized our national security to the point
where we probably could not survive one more disaster like 9/11 ... or
Hurricane Katrina.
From The Morning Call, 9/17/05:
http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/oped/all-columnsep17,0,2924078.column?track=mostemailedlink
Old GOP strategies get tossed by Hurricane Katrina
By Donald P. Russo
I think the Bush administration's response to the New Orleans
nightmare might possibly involve something more troubling than mere
ineptitude and gross incompetence.
For greater perspective, we need to go back in time a bit.
In 1964, Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was
trounced by Democrat Lyndon Johnson.
Goldwater's defeat gave birth to a new Republican strategy that served
the GOP well for 40 years.
It posits two fundamental assumptions.
First, that people can be convinced they do not need government to
provide a social safety net.
Instead, corporate America and private enterprise will attend to all
your needs and provide you with an abundant life.
Second, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a piece of federal
legislation imposed on an unwilling populace in part as a result of
revulsion over the assassination of President John Kennedy.
According to Republican strategists, white voters, particularly in the
Deep South, harbor simmering resentments against this federal law.
To exploit their anger, Republicans implemented a Southern Strategy to
peel Southern voters away from their traditional Democratic moorings.
The Republican Southern Strategy first surfaced during the Nixon-Agnew
presidential campaign of 1968, and this 40-year strategy has carefully
avoided overt racism.
The subtle underlying unpleasantness of the strategy was disguised in
euphemisms, mostly involving references to protecting ''states'
rights'' or the need to stop the federal government from ''controlling
your life from Washington, D.C.''
Ronald Reagan picked up the Southern Strategy, railing about ''getting
the government off our backs.''
At bottom, Republicans tried to exploit, rather than eradicate, a
shameful hatred of black people that has always been harbored by many
white Americans.
Such hatred is very real, although it will never be openly discussed
or even acknowledged.
Republican Party leaders are acutely aware that while racism has
officially been declared illegal in America, it still lurks in the
hearts of many.
We also can examine the conservative rationale of ''starving the
beast'' (federal government).
Tax cuts for the upper class deplete the federal treasury.
This creates gargantuan deficits, such as those arising under George
W. Bush.
These deficits are not merely coincidental.
For right wingers, a government that is not broke presents too much of
an opportunity for social activism.
Their theory:
Stop government before it can help again.
Newt Gingrich was foiled by his own loquacious willingness to openly
discuss these strategies.
Bush, in contrast, decided to convince voters he was a different kind
of Republican.
It turns out that Bush was, at the very least, being disingenuous.
A leading proponent behind Bush's tax cutting policy is Grover
Norquist, a high profile advocate of the ''kill the taxes and you kill
the government'' theory of starving the beast.
The Bush administration has adhered to Norquist's beliefs.
Norquist has compared recipients of government funds (except perhaps
for big defense contractors) to cockroaches.
Norquist claims that he and his followers in the anti-government
movement plan to reduce the federal government to a size so small
''that it could be drowned in a bathtub.''
Discussing the Bush administration, Norquist was quoted in the
Washington Post as saying that:
''What this administration is doing, and most people haven't figured
it out yet, is an annual tax cut.''
Republicans were winning elections with this hucksterism until Mother
Nature destroyed the tea party.
New Orleans was washed away like a mythical Atlantis, leaving us with
images of destitute black people on their roofs begging for someone in
the government to provide them with food, water and medicine.
Thus, our nation was forced to confront the reality of what 40 years
of right wing political jingoism have wrought.
Bush and his Republican Congress have failed this nation miserably.
In the wake of the president's Thursday evening speech from New
Orleans, it will be interesting to see how the GOP resolves its
differences over how (and with how many dollars) the federal
government should respond.
Their first inclination was to continue draining our national treasury
to help their friends at Halliburton and Exxon/Mobil.
Meanwhile, they have jeopardized our national security to the point
where we probably could not survive one more disaster like 9/11 ... or
Hurricane Katrina.
__________________________________________________________
Harry
.
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